This week’s devotions are based on Week 1 of Cross Examined: Can We Stay? (LISTEN HERE)
The moment was amazing.
But the moment ended.
And it was time to move on.
The minutes the three disciples experienced with Jesus, Moses and Elijah would make a lasting impact on them. The brilliance of the glory of God, the voice of the Father and ability to see Moses and Elijah. The moment was amazing and its importance unfolded as time went on.
But then it ended.
Luke 9:36 When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The disciples kept this to themselves, and told no one at that time what they had seen.
Jesus was back to his normal self. Moses and Elijah were gone and the cloud of God’s presence had lifted.
It was time to head back down the mountain.
I don’t know how they could keep this experience to themselves, but it seems they did. The experience would make much more sense later after Jesus had completed his work in Jerusalem and risen from the dead.
Peter had wanted to stay…but he and James and John had to move on too. Jesus had a mission to carry out. Peter, James and John had a mission to carry out. Jesus used this moment among many others to prepare them with confidence and conviction that he was the Messiah, the Son of God and Savior of the world. The moment clarified all this for them so when they spoke, they spoke with first hand experience and Spirit-given clarity of understanding.
But that wouldn’t have happened if they camped out on the mountain.
The mountain held no new people to share the Gospel. The mountain didn’t have souls suffering under the guilt of sin that needed the completed work of Christ to cover them and forgive them. Staying in the moment of the mountain would have stalled the mission of the Gospel spreading “to the ends of the earth.”
So they went down and moved on.
It can be easy to linger in the past, to reminisce about what was and perhaps either have fond memories and wish you could go back or regrets that you missed opportunities. The moments of our past are easy to visualize, evaluate and hold on to because we’ve experienced them. Looking forward and believing there is more God has for us to do is often the difficult perspective to hold.
God gives us moments in our present which we remember in our past to prepare us for the future. He doesn’t want us to live in the past, but use the experiences of the past to make us ready for the opportunities he has in the future…especially opportunities to bring the Gospel to others.
We are the current “Peter, James, and John’s” that have been touched with the glory of God, given the testimony of his Word, and given hearts of faith to believe it is all real and of eternal importance.
And Jesus wants us to move on with the Gospel.
He has prepared future moments for us to be with the right person at the right time to be a beacon for his grace and forgiveness.
He doesn’t want us to believe we have no purpose if we are older. He doesn’t want us to despair that our childhood wasn’t the best. He wants to use all those moments, moments of blessing or moments of burden, to see his love, grace and forgiveness prevail. He promises to redeem the moments of our past and make them a blessing to us and others in the future…if…we just move on with confident faith in who Jesus is, conviction of the truth of his Word and clarity that our heavenly Father wants to use you, his son or daughter, to bring the Gospel to another soul.
Apply: Do you find yourself “living in the past” and hard to move on or excited to embrace the future ahead? Write down the moments of the past that affect you in the present. How can God use those moments to prepare you for his kingdom work in the future?
Prayer: Lord, thank you for your amazing grace to use all of our moments of the past to prepare us for your work today and into the future. Give us excitement to move on into each day, knowing that you are with us and have prepared us for the moments ahead of us. AMEN.